Review of Creed II

Creed II makes a bad movie that came out 30 years ago worth it

Well if nothing else, Creed II made me want to watch The Wire again.

I’m glad I didn’t bother to dive too deeply into what this movie was about before I watched it, because I enjoyed the surprise. It builds on what Creed started and adds a new, yet old element to the story. Creed II takes the worst movie of the original Rocky series (because Rocky V never happened of course) and builds its story around that. But by now, that movie is such a cult classic, that it’s worthy of a callback.

Dolph Lundgren is in Russia training his son in the art of pummeling someone to death, while Rocky is training Adonis Creed, the recently crowned heavyweight champion. There is much going on outside the ring, with grandkids and hearing-impaired wives, but the rub is that we’re going to get the kids of the two boxers who fought to the death 30 years ago in the ring together. But this time, without any silly exposition about communism and the cold war and living together in harmony. Just avert your eyes for that part if you dig up the original.

I wavered back and forth on this movie. I loved seeing Rocky again. He is one of the most lovable characters in cinema history, and even better now as a grandfather figure. His conversation with Ivan about stray dogs was perfect for both characters. But then there was the first fight, which was so very clearly a contrived set up and completely predictable. Rocky didn’t want to be a part of it, Creed came out arrogant, the Russian fought dirty, etc. But then the rematch showed me a little something. They gave Ivan a heart. They didn’t cheese up Adonis when he was beating his opponent silly. They found another way out. And I enjoyed it. The closing montage of Rocky with his grandson and Adonis with his dad and daughter, and with Ivan running alongside his son was enough to get me in the feels. Not enough for me to forgive it for all its faults, but enough to leave me with a smile. And I got to see Rocky and his fedora for another couple hours.

6/10

Dustin Fisher

Review of Just Mercy

Just Mercy makes an uncomfortable story just as uncomfortable as it should be

I’m never sure how to feel about movies like this. I mean, it’s uplifting to see an innocent man finally get the justice and freedom he deserves, but DAMN it paints a bleak and horrific picture of just how racist and unfair our country was not too long ago. Thank God all that’s over.

Just Mercy is the true story of Walter McMillan, an innocent man sentenced to death in Alabama, and Bryan Stevenson, the Harvard lawyer who appeals and ultimately overturns his conviction. Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx were fantastic in their roles, but I also want to give a shout out to Tim Blake Nelson for his turn as the patsy that the state extorted into a false testimony to get the conviction against McMillan. The scene where he admits how the sheriff got him to lie about the murder was one of the more powerful scenes I’ve seen in the last few years.

But the real story here is how in the hell can a county get away with this? Granted, there may have been some liberties taken in this movie, and this story was only told from one side, but if even some of this is how it happened, I’m so sad for our country. This movie is about a case that happened when I was a senior in high school, and I would have allegedly been able to understand how wrong this was. But I don’t remember hearing about this at all. Or anything like this. Last I heard, Rosa Parks kicked off the civil rights movement and we celebrated her and Dr. King and racism was when a white guy would prefer to hire another white guy for a job. I was grossly unaware that white people in charge were doing pretty much what they wanted with the justice system because they got there first. And by white people, I of course mean white men.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. History is written by the victors. Yeah, this movie got me going.

Some of the best scenes in this was the comradery they showed for those on death row, especially during the execution scene. It was an interesting look into what death row is like, something that doesn’t get a lot of screen time as far as I can remember.

My one problem with this movie is as I mentioned, I’m not sure how to feel. Or more to the point, I’m not sure what I feel. I mean, good on Johnnie D, but I felt mostly pissed off at white people and the things they think they can get away with. They. Man, I’m all mixed up. More proof that Just Mercy did what it sought out to do. And I didn’t feel it being crammed down my throat like some movies try to do. It just simply presents its case and lets you feel however you want, even if you don’t know what exactly that is.

7/10

Dustin Fisher

Review of Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild is the story of all of us out there searching for our inner wolf

The CGI animals in this movie were so good, I just assumed it was a remake of an older animated Disney movie.

Seriously, I can’t even tell the difference anymore. I’m not even sure if there were some parts that were played by a real dog and some parts that were CGI and I’m not gonna look it up. As far as I’m concerned, all dogs and wolves in the movie were real and trained actors. I think if I ever show my kids Turner & Hooch, they’ll just ask why Mr. Rogers is working alongside such a horrible dog actor.

This is a movie adaptation of a book that came out 117 years ago. And they wisely didn’t try to modernize it. There are no need for cell phones or TVs or even cars. It’s the story of a dog’s journey from the living room to the wild. Buck starts out as a home body, but he’s meant for something more, though he doesn’t know it at the time. He is kidnapped and taken to the Yukon, where he is used as a sled dog for the US Postal Service until that route is no longer necessary. After another small adventure, he eventually ends up living with Harrison Ford in an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. His journey is both exciting and poignant, as he rescues his owners, earns the respect of his canine peers, and learns about himself, specifically his ancestry in the form of a wolf, quite literally his spirit animal.

This story is a journey not all of us have the privilege to take, for lack of time and resources and “real life” problems. A journey of discovering oneself. Of listening to your inner wolf. An adventure the whole family will enjoy and learn from. The movie at times will be sad for the child and/or animal lover among us, but that pain is a necessary part of Buck’s journey. And in the end, Buck ends up right where he belongs, even if it’s not where he thought he belonged in the beginning of his journey. I look forward to telling my son this story tonight as he lay down in his bed. And hopefully one day, he’ll be inspired to seek out his own inner wolf. Perhaps I will too.

8/10

Dustin Fisher

Review of Miracle

Miracle takes a historically magical moment in USA sports and does very little with it

Maybe it’s because I’m a communist, but I found Miracle a little boring. I watched it because it won the Most Inspirational Movie in Movie Madness this year and I couldn’t really remember the last time I’d seen it. Now I know why I couldn’t remember it.

Miracle does a great job finding hockey players to create realistic game play. Nobody is spiking a volleyball with a closed fist in this movie. That helped keep my attention for a bit. But when it was time for the inevitable climax, I was fairly unmoved. Perhaps the two prior hours of cheesy inspirational music in scenes where it didn’t belong made me numb to it. (Do we really need it when he’s making phone calls to his wife?) Or maybe because I knew how it was going to end. Or maybe because it wasn’t the gold medal game, but by the time I remembered that, I was already just waiting for the movie to end.

And what about this movie is actually inspirational? It’s not like I’m inspired to go play hockey now. Or even watch hockey. I’m not inspired to try out for the Olympics either. Not even curling. I’m a little inspired to watch the actual game somewhere if I can track it down. But only a little, and I don’t think that’s what people meant when they voted this as Most Inspirational. Outside of some unusual coaching motivational techniques and decent hockey simulation, there wasn’t a lot to the movie. Maybe they should have thrown in a love story with Leo and Kate Winslet. That’s how you spice up a docudrama.

3/10

Dustin Fisher     

Review of Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island is a fun romp for people who don’t have to have it all

Fantasy Island is a cozy old sweater. The kind that you don’t let anyone else see you wear, and if you ever dared to pull at any of the many stray threads hanging off it, the entire thing would unravel. But still, it makes you feel comfortable if you just leave it the hell alone and never wash it.

Full disclosure: I’ve never seen the TV Show and only really half knew what it was about. I remember an Asian or Asian-adjacent guy yelling “Da plane!” and a lot of white outfits. And that’s where my memory ends. I even missed the ink joke until they literally spelled it out for me. So I had no source material to hold this accountable to, for better or worse.

The movie opens with five guests being flown to this island where they are told they may live out one fantasy, but only one, and they have to live it out to its natural conclusion. These are the movie’s only two rules. And they don’t even really follow them.

What is this island about? How does it do what it does? Are they high-tech robots, a la Westworld? Hallucinogens, a la Batman Begins? Real people, a la Surviving the Game? And how can they afford to do all this? It surely costs a lot of money to pull this off. Just stick those questions back in whatever pocket you pulled them from. Because that’s not what this movie is about, and the answer moves back and forth between all of them. Think Lost. If you were upset by the ending of Lost because you thought you deserved a rational explanation about how the island was able to travel in time, you probably won’t like this either.

And in the big reveal, when the stakes are at their highest, they confuse the heck out of you and hope that by the time the smoke clears, you’re just going to be fine with whatever set of steak knives they just sold you. Who’s a guest and who’s a hostage and what is the distinction? Whose fantasy was this? Maybe it isn’t theirs. Or maybe they’re living theirs, but inside someone else’s fantasy? The movie puts together an interesting puzzle that doesn’t all completely fit, but it’s still fun to put together the pieces you have. Kind of.

If Fantasy Island is trying to show us the dark side of wish fulfillment, it missed. If it’s trying to wrap a puzzle inside a puzzle, it’s somewhere on the target, probably in the blue circles. This is a movie I enjoyed and would tentatively recommend with a lot of disclaimers.

5/10

Dustin Fisher